Children’s Art MuseumsDownload

Artsonia (http://www.artsonia.com/) is an on-line educational company that describes itself as “the world’s largest art museum for young artists.” With over 3,000 schools participating, the Artsonia collection includes thousands of works of art by children in over 100 countries with the following media represented: digital arts, drawings, paintings, printmaking, collage, fiber/fabric, photography, mosaic, 3-D art, and mixed media projects. The site includes a library of art project lesson plans submitted by art teachers as well as links to local and international art contests.

Children’s Museum of the Arts (http://cmany.org/) in New York City maintains a permanent collection of over two thousand paintings and drawings by children from over fifty countries, including China, Pakistan, Argentina, Norway, Australia, Indonesia, Senegal and Russia. Also included within the collection are 19 rare works done by children during the 1938 Works Progress Administration (WPA) Children's Art Project under President Roosevelt. The CMA offers an outreach art program with classes held at local schools, on-site workshops for children, and a summer and winter camp and “art colony”. A number of works from the permanent collection can be seen on the Web site.

Jewish Museum in Prague (http://www.jewishmuseum.cz/en/acollectpict.htm) in the Czech Republic is home to 4,500 children's drawings from Terezín, a transit camp during World War II, one of the most extensive collections of children's drawings in the world. Between 1942 and 1944, Bauhaus graduate, artist and interior designer, Mrs. Friedl Dicker-Brandeis (1898 - 1944), taught a course of art classes to the children of Terezin. Before being deported to Auschwitz, Friedl Dicker was able to put two suitcases of the children's drawings in a secret hiding place. They were recovered after the war and given to the Jewish Museum in Prague. Very few Terezin children survived the war as the vast majority were deported to Auschwitz and exterminated in its gas chambers. These drawings are testimony both to the persecution of the Jews and to the hope and imagination of the children who made them. Currently, only a couple of images may be seen online.

International Museum of Children’s Art (http://www.english.barnekunst.no) in Oslo, Norway was established in 1986 by The Foundation of Children's History, Art and Culture. Film director Rafael Goldin and his wife, Doctor of Medicine, Alla Goldin, conceived and developed the idea of the Museum and collection. The Museum’s primary purpose is to collect, preserve and promote children's art worldwide and is one of the largest of its kind. Many images of this beautiful collection may be seen online at the Museum’s Web site.

Museum of Greek Children’s Art (http://www.childrensartmuseum.gr/english/mainfr.htm) in Athens, Greece, presents, preserves and promotes children’s art, featuring the best work from the museum’s annual art competition for Greek children. The museum hosts temporary exhibitions and exchange exhibitions with other museums, art workshops and relevant institutions in Greece and abroad. The goals of the museum are to develop children’s aesthetics and children’s creativity and to cultivate children’s contact with and love for all forms of art.

Paintbrush Diplomacy (http://www.paintbrushdiplomacy.org/) in Menlo Park, has conducted cross-cultural art and writing exchange programs around the world since 1975. Paintbrush Diplomacy has worked with children from Poland, Estonia, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, Mexico, and the United States and other countries with a hope to encourage friendliness and foster a sense of community among children of the world. The permanent collection contains over 2000 pieces of art created by children from over 100 countries.

Shankar International Children’s Competition (http://www.childrensbooktrust.com) in New Delhi, India is part of the Children’s Book Trust, which includes an International Doll Museum, a children’s book collection, and a children’s magazine. The competition was started by K. Shankar Pillai (July 31, 1902—December 26, 1989) a well-known cartoonist, who brought out a political magazine called Shankar’s Weekly. Under the auspices of this magazine, the first children’s competition was organized in 1949. It invited paintings and writings from children in India. Children sent about 3,000 entries. The following year children from all over the world were invited to participate in the competition. Today the competition has grown and about 160,000 entries from over 130 countries. The entries are judged by an international jury and the prizewinning entries are compiled in a volume called the Shankar’s Children’s Art Number. In addition to the children’s painting competition, the Children’s Book Trust also holds an annual writing competition for writers of children’s books.

The Stone Soup Museum of Children’s Art (http://www.stonesoup.com/art/) in Santa Cruz, California, is an on-line collection with over 1300 works by children from 36 different countries. Many of the best pieces in their collection have appeared on the covers of Stone Soup, all of which can be viewed in their International Collection. The museum’s American Collection includes works by young illustrators, including works made in Stone Soups’ own art school .

World Awareness Children’s Museum (http://www.worldchildrensmuseum.org), Glens Falls, New York, founded in 1995, with a mission to foster awareness, understanding, and appreciation of worldwide cultural diversity for children and adults. Programs include on-site interactive cultural exhibitions, the International Youth Art Exchange (ARTex) program and exhibitions for loan, as well as educational outreach programs, special events, membership, sponsorship and volunteer opportunities.

World School Children’s Art Exhibition (http://www.taiwanembassy.org/us/ct.asp?xItem=50376&ctNode=2300&mp=12)
is an annual international children’s art competition held by the Association for Education through Art in Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan.) The contest rules are posted on the Republic of China (Taiwan) Diplomatic Mission Web Page, which indicates that works in the following media are accepted: oil painting, water color painting, wood cut print, pencil sketch, crayon drawing, pastel, collage, etching and design.